The Hall of Fame Museum's plaque room was full, and not just with baseball fans looking at their favorite Hall of Famers' plaques, but also people waiting to get into the museum store.

Observer Dispatch staff

Gwynn, Ripken go first; fans take off shortly after

The threat of rain persuaded Hall of Fame induction ceremony officials to alter the event's lineup.

The 2007 induction ceremony started at 1:35 p.m. With dark skies looming over the crowd of at more than 50,000 viewers, Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn’s speeches were moved to the front of the ceremony.

Gwynn went first and when Ripken’s speech ended at 3:15 p.m., a mass exodus of fans made their way out of the Clark Sports Center, with three honorees still to speak. Bobby Doerr, Rick Hummel and Denny Matthews were in the process of receiving their accolades. Hummel, who writes for St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is the recipient of the Spink Award.

About 25 minutes after Ripken made his remarks, a mass of people were still leaving. Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews, who was accepting the Frick Award, had yet to speak.

Long lines in the museum

The Hall of Fame Museum's plaque room was full, and not just with baseball fans looking at their favorite Hall of Famers' plaques, but also people waiting to get into the museum store.

The line to get into the store went from the store's entrance to halfway into the plaque room. Museum officials in charge of keeping the crowd in order said the wait to get into the store was about 20 minutes. The line affected the ability of museum-goers to enjoy the plaque room, with at least one fan planning on returning on a less busy day.

Free the Birds

A Baltimore radio station was passing out signs praising Cal Ripken on one side and voicing displeasure with current Orioles owner Peter Angelos on the other.

Barry Aparicio, son of the owner of WNST sports radio, distributed the signs that said “Free the Birds” as part of the protest against Angelos’ ownership. Aparicio was wearing a hat and shirt bearing the same message.

“We want Angelos to sell the team and bring baseball back to Baltimore the way it used to be,” Aparicio said. Last September, dissatisfied fans organized a walk out from an Orioles games in which thousands of fans participated. The group is planning another walk out this August and passed out 25,000 signs over the weekend. Many fans picked up the signs, which had “Baltimore (heart)'s Cal” printed on them as well.

Commemorative stamps

Hundreds of people lined up by the post office across the street from the Hall of Fame to have memorabilia stamped with a commemorative stamp with the induction date, and to purchase special stamps and other items.

Rae Spaugh made the trip from Baltimore starting from midnight Sunday and had her Cal Ripken special-edition record-breaking program stamped and canceled. She previously had a stamped-and-canceled memento on Sept. 6, 1995, the day Ripken broke the record for consecutive games played. A season ticket holder for the Orioles for 25 years, Spaugh was happy to see not only her hometown hero Ripken honored but Tony Gwynn as well.

“They stood for what baseball is all about,” she said. “They always played with class.”